A Possible Detection of M31* with Chandra
Abstract
Two independent sets of Chandra and HST images of the nuclear region of M31 allow registration of X-ray and optical images to 0.1''. This registration shows that none of the bright (10^{37} erg/s) X-ray sources near the nucleus is coincident with the central super-massive black hole, M31*. A 50ks Chandra HRC image shows 2.5 sigma evidence for a faint (3 x 10^{35} erg/s), apparently resolved source which is consistent with the position of the M31*. The Bondi radius of M31* is 0.9'', making it one of the few super-massive black holes with a resolvable accretion flow. This large radius and the previous detections of diffuse, X-ray emitting gas in the nuclear region make M31* one of the most secure cases for a radiatively inefficient accretion flow and place some of the most severe constraints on the radiative processes in such a flow.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0412350,
title = {A Possible Detection of M31* with Chandra},
author = {M. R. Garcia and B. F. Williams and F. Yuan and A. K. H. Kong and F. A. Primini and P. Barmby and P. Kaaret and S. S. Murray},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0412350},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ